Black and White Hospitality Management has a passionate and dedicated team in place to help and support our hotels and franchisees in delivering excellence and growing profitable businesses.
Resident in the UK but a seasoned traveller, Nick heads up this exciting venture. Nick has over 30 years’ experience in the hospitality industry. He has worked closely with Marco in recent years to develop all the different franchise concepts available. Nick’s hospitality experience expands F&B. Prior to Black and White Hospitality, Nick was MD at Sanguine Hospitality where he was responsible for developing and managing branded hotels and luxury health clubs and spas. Today, his role is focused on driving the Black and White Hospitality expansion strategy and overseeing its operational activities. He is also an investor in both Cadbury House in North Somerset and The Cube in Birmingham (both UK).
Caroline oversees the finance function for the whole of Black and White Hospitality including the franchising and management divisions. She is also an investor in Cadbury House and The Cube (both UK). Her background spans 35 years in the hospitality and finance sector. Her previous role was Finance Director at Sanguine Hospitality and before that she spent a number of years at Forte Hotels and Macdonald Hotels. Caroline sits on a number of external investment boards as a non-exec director and manages assets of more than £200m value.
Shezan is the Managing Director at Black and White Hospitality and sits on the main board of the parent company Black and White Hospitality Management Ltd. He is an active shareholder in The Cube and oversees the operation of the hotel management arm of the business. Shezan has more than 20 years’ experience within hospitality and has worked with major industry brands including Marriott, Hilton, IHG and Wyndham.
Rob acts as Legal Director for Black and White Hospitality and works closely with the brand team to ensure quality and consistency, as well as supporting the expansion strategy and all other legal matters across the group. Rob has over 15 years’ experience as an in-house lawyer with a particular specialism in the franchising sector having previously worked globally for businesses such as PepsiCo.
Aleem has over 25 years of Hospitality experience. He has worked at several large 5-star hotel venues/resorts from an early age, to operating large central London Hotel/Restaurant portfolios at a senior Finance level. Aleem has strong financial experience, which has been previously gained through working at huge multi-million-pound profit-making PLC’s/private organisations.
At Black and White Hospitality Aleem oversees and handles our group Finances across the business. He financially and commercially manages performance throughout our hotel arm of the company. To support our robust financial goals, Aleem works closely with our Board of Directors, Asset Investors and Management teams.
Leo heads up our operations department here at Black and White, as Operations Director for the company working closely with the brand marketing team, operational marketing and the food team to ensure the effectiveness and success of the franchise partners across the board.
He has a wealth of international franchise experience, holding senior operational roles for Chatime, Nando’s and Hog’s Australia’s Steakhouse.
Leo is key to driving operational excellence, guest experience and brand engagement, whilst building strong relationships with all our business partners across the UK and international.
Working in marketing, PR and the creative industry for over twelve years, Robyn oversees the branding and overall marketing strategy across the group. Robyn has previously worked in London for Warner Bros, Amazon UK, as part of the UK team to launch the Kindle, Trunki 2010 launch of clothing to the Amazon site; as well as leading on Christmas in July campaigns for Canon UK and Toshiba as part of the UK consumer tech PR outreach. A move back to her native Wales saw her work in media marketing and PR at commercial radio stations and print-based media and then working on brand led concepts in events, PR and marketing. Following a cross over into hospitality Robyn's focus at Black and White Hospitality is ensure our brand and strategy is innovative, creative and planned strategically to ensure the best results possible. By utilising the full marketing tool kit and working with our brand partners and suppliers, we can achieve and deliver the right results for the restaurant estate both in the UK and internationally.
Gabrielle brings eight years of diverse marketing experience to our team. Her journey started at university, where she studied Fashion Design and Marketing.
After graduating, Gabrielle found her stride at Harvey Nichols, refining her marketing skills. Yet, the real turning point was her venture into the hospitality scene. She played a key role in launching Orelle, D&D London's first location in Birmingham. With a knack for navigating the marketing landscape and a diverse background in both fashion and food, Gabrielle offers a fresh and well-rounded perspective to our team, and will be vital in helping drive forward the marketing support to the UK franchises.
Ashleigh has over 9 years experience of working in the hospitality industry both front of house and office based. Most recently as Head of Events at The Cube, in Birmingham where she was based for 4 years where she looked after a range of corporate and social functions, key clients including Coca Cola, Team England Commonwealth and the BBC.
As Marketing Executive for Black & White Hospitality, Ashleigh’s role is to provide 1-1 support to franchises on all local activity and implement local marketing strategies to drive restaurant business.
Rebecca is an interior designer with over 15 years’ experience within the commercial sector. Working closely with the team at Black and White Hospitality she is constantly revisiting the Brand Interior Design Guides to ensure that the designs are always current and fresh and concur with the overall excellence that the Marco Pierre White brand is renowned for. In addition to this, Rebecca assists with individual franchises, whether it be the full design of a new restaurant, or simply overseeing the design process.
Laurence manages all public relation and media related activity for Black and White Hospitality. He also handles the PR for Marco directly, including his Rudloe Arms in Wiltshire. With over 25 years’ experience of working in the media, he has extensive experience of the hospitality sector having represented some of the world’s best-known hotel groups as well as the UK’s biggest brewery and pub retailing groups. He has also been involved with the opening and on-going PR activity for many restaurants, including the first Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill, New York Italian and Bardolino.
As Group Sales Manager for Black & White Hospitality Management, Sasha also oversees franchise sales for Black & White Hospitality. A seasoned sales professional, she has over 25 years of sales experience across both branded and independent hotels helping deliver optimum profits to hotel owners. Sasha also looks after sales for Black and White's managed sites as well as HMA and franchise sales.
Darren heads up our brand team. Having been a chef since 2001, Darren’s career has been hugely diverse and impressive; he started his career at Claridge’s Hotel in London and from there went on to train with Michel Roux Jr at Le Gavroche, Jason Atherton at Pollen Street Social and with Simon Rogan at l’Enclume.
From travelling the world as a personal chef to a billionaire and training in his free time at three Michelin star kitchens in Italy, Monaco & on the Cote d’Azur to working with Marco Pierre White.
His role now, as brand director is to work closely with Marco himself and then with the wider team both in the UK and Internationally, to ensure all aspects of the companies brand vision are being delivered to the highest standards possible.
Jason is Marco Pierre White restaurant’s executive head chef at Black and White Hospitality. He works alongside Darren and Marco to develop all-new menu content and chef training. Jason has had a long-standing relationship with Marco having previously worked under him at his famed Harveys restaurant in London, where he spent two years helping Marco attain two of his three Michelin stars. Jason is infamous for his starring role in White Heat where he has a full page! In recent years and prior to joining Black and White Hospitality, Jason was executive head chef at Marco’s Steakhouse Bar & Grill in Bristol.
Richard heads up Procurement for Black and White Hospitality. He has a varied role and is key to the F&B business to ensure food quality, standards and margins are met to drive the all-important profit conversion. Richard also works closely with the new opening teams to support the procurement of both light and heavy equipment where required. Richard also owns his own procurement business which gives us excellent access to very competitive pricing and group deals.
Chris started his career in 2004 at the Doubletree by Hilton Cadbury House Bristol. Chris went on to become Snr Sous Chef in Marco Pierre White's Steakhouse Bar & Grill Bristol, then later became Head Chef of some well-known restaurants in the South West. In 2019 Chris joined the procurement team and supports Darren and Jason with food development including cook-offs, recipe costings, food specifications, allergen matrices and site support. Chris has cooked with Marco on numerous occasions and has an in-depth knowledge of how both the kitchens and head office functions work.
Emma has worked in the hospitality sector for 26 years, primarily for Macdonald Hotels. Starting with Trust House Forte brand in 1995 as accounts assistant she worked her way up to Financial Controller at the five-star Bath Spa. She was then appointed as Regional Financial Controller, covering both five-star properties across the Macdonald's estate including the Bath Spa and The Randolph in Oxford plus a host of other managed, owned and resort-style businesses.
Emma works across both Black and White Hospitality and the Hotel Management Businesses as Regional Financial Controller.
Jacqui has 30 years’ experience in hospitality and finance and forms part of the Black and White Hospitality finance team supporting hotels on the hotel management side of the business with financial reporting as well as taxes across the group. She previously worked for luxury hotel brands gaining experience in hotel control and audit procedures, before moving on to a central role liaising between external auditors and hotel finance teams.
Sohaib's role in group finance provides crucial support to all finance departments across the group, as well as project managing new developments. Having worked at prestigious large London hotels in the past, he carries a wealth of experience as well as having passion for the hospitality industry with keen interest in systems and IT. He works closely with the franchise team in reporting vital sales trends across all brands and sites alongside analysing and interpreting key data. Sohaib started as Group Management Accountant with the Black and White Hospitality in 2018 and was promoted to the position of Group Financial Controller in January 2022.
Ros joined Nick Taplin as his P.A. in 2005, after a career spanning more than 20 years in financial services Human Resource management. Her time with Nick started with the multi-million-pound development of Cadbury House in Bristol as well as numerous other hotel developments within the UK.
Following the transition to MPW restaurant franchising with Black and White Hospitality, Ros contributes to the provision of materials for new franchise setups and other events. Her main focus, however, has always been supporting and organising Nick, getting him where and when he needs to be, in the UK and across the world!
Abi has over 10 years' experience within the hospitality sector. She joined the Black and White Hospitality team in 2019 after 5 years in front office management at Doubletree by Hilton Cadbury House, Bristol. Day to day she assists Nick Taplin, Ros Harwood and the team with a multitude of administrative tasks.